Choosing the Right Pet Food Shouldn’t Be a Nail Biter
Making Healthy Foods Simple
You don’t eat food with thirteen syllable additives, supplements, and byproducts, so how do you do the same for your pet? Big store dry and wet pet foods often contain fillers which lack the nutrients your pets need for healthy skin, fur, nails, brain health, and more. These bulk foods leave your pets at risk for broken nails, dry skin, and nutrient deficiencies.
Pet nutrition experts suggest sticking to wholefoods, foods with actual ingredients that you can see and recognize. When selecting your pet foods look for proteins, fruits, vegetables, and oils. On top of fillers, the more highly processed a food is, the less nutrition it generally contains. As food is processed it loses essential vitamins and minerals. Other experts will add that your pet food should offer complete nutrition, meaning you shouldn’t have to add supplemented nutrients outside of their daily meals.
But what are you to do? Natural and raw pet foods are a big switch. They’re expensive. Making your own is an option but that can leave your pet at risk too.
At Northwest Naturals we know that you’re busy, and would rather be spending your money on toys, treats, and taking your fur baby out on the town, than spending loads of cash on their food. We make it easy to get wholesome nutrition in easy to serve portions at a price that won’t break your catnip or squeaky toy budget. Our ingredients are simple and nutritious. We use bison, beef, and broccoli rather than byproducts. Our foods are packed with the right amounts of zinc, iron, and vitamin E so that your dog or cat have absolutely the very best.
Nutrition and Nails
Whether you have a cat or a dog, both, or multiple pets, you know that health starts at their nails. Your babies scratch, dig, grip, and protect. Nails are important. With poor nutrition however, they become brittle and break, leading to other potential health conditions.
If your pet has a serious condition, please first consult your vet. Diet is important but your vet can help determine if there are other factors involved and suggest an overall treatment which might include diet. Pet nail health, like human nail health, is reliant on consuming the right nutrients such as omega fatty acids and biotin.
Grooming
Proper nutrition isn’t the only factor in the health of your dog or cat’s nails. Grooming or trimming your pet’s nails regularly will help to strengthen them and prevent damage. Inside the nail is a nerve and a blood vessel called the “quick.” Cutting the nail too short can be painful and harmful to the overall health of the nail. Most veterinarians and groomers offer nail trimming services, or you can ask to be shown the proper method for trimming the nails at home. Pets with dark or black nails can be more intimidating than those with lighter color nails because it’s not as easy to see where the blood vessel ends. Other pets dislike the process of having their nails trim and fight against it, making it harder, and more difficult to do safely at home. Vets and groomers who have experience can be helpful in those cases.
For more information on how and why to feed raw, check out this page on our website:
Why Feed Raw?
